Well I have to say, game one of the first series of the NBA playoffs was quite a shocker. Who expected some of the upsets that occured to happen. Miami beat Philadelphia to start the weekend off, which really wasn't much of a shocker, even though for a moment I was almost worried they would loose, until Dwayne Wade picked up his game. Dwight Howard on the other hand in the Atlanta - Orlando game scored a career high of 46 points and 19 rebounds, yet his team fell to the hot and ready Atlanta Hawks, this wasn't expected by me and the game wasn't even close. I'm sure that everyone assumed that Chicago being the number one seed in the East would blow out Indiana, the eighth seed didn't exactly have a strong season. I saw them play the Timberwolves in which they lost to a sub 500 team by over 30 points. In fact the Pacers gave Derrick Rose and the bulls a run for their money, making a late game comback to almost upset them. Rose who scored 39 points did in the end help his team manage a close but needed win. The final eastern playoff game on Sunday was almost predictable, the struggling Celtic team took on the knicks, whom haven't had a strong finish to their season either. The tipical Knicks started out with a strong lead and played well, Stoudemaire and Anthony, two offensive ball hogs, put up good numbers, but by the fourth quarter their lack of defense again was their downall, a late three pointer by Ray Allen gave his team the lead and the rest is history. Celtics win 87-85.
Like the Eastern playoffs, the west too had some close games and even some upsets. Being a lakers fan, watching them loose being favored to beating the seventh seeded Hornets was painful. But it could be asked for, they had no spark, not energy and they just looked tired. Chris Paul had 33 points, Carl Landry scored 17 points and Jarrett Jack scored 15 points to help their team trump the lakers. While these players had season highs, players such as Pau Gasol had season lows, Gasol was even benched or rested as it was called while Lamar Odom stayed in, who is usually the best bench player on their team. Well the number two seed fell, and so did the number one see, the Spurs. A fired up Memphis team took the floor in San Antonio on Sunday and came to play. Zach Randolph played like a beast, putting up 25 points to the best in the west. Shane Battier hit a three pointer with 23.9 seconds left to give the Grizzlies their first playoff win in team history, the final score was 101-98. Well more close games came with the saturday showcase of possibly the closest series in the west, Dallas and Portland! Just like everyone thought the game was close, both teams played very well and unlike my lakers looked like they had something to play for. Dallas did turn out victorious, just as I predicted, with Nowitzki putting up some good numbers. People say that Dallas has a playoff slump and can't win, but they are a good team and this is their year, I'm predicting Dallas 4 games to 3. The final game of the weekend was Sunday night with Denver and Oklahoma City. Two great teams, and they played like two great teams. Ever since the trade Denver has gained some talents from New York such as Galinari who has posed a threat. After getting off to a good lead, Oklahoma with again the help of their young stars Westbrook and Durant aided their team to another close victory of 107-102.
No comments:
Post a Comment